No More Time
by alphaangel
Summary: A surprise visitor from the past spells change for Smithy. Please read and review. Chapter 2 up.
1. Shock

No More Time

Chapter 1 - Shock

"Smithy, there's someone in the front office for you." Callum said as he passed the sergeants office.

"Right, thanks." Smithy finished the sentence that he was typing and stood up. He stretched and yawned, he had been sat at the computer doing paperwork for several hours and was looking for any excuse to get up.

"Tony, you got someone to see me?" He asked PC Stamp who was behind the desk.

Tony nodded towards a teenage girl who jumped up when she saw Smithy stood there. "Dale." She said rushing towards him.

"Sophie?" He said in surprise and pulled her into an embrace. "What are you doing here? What's wrong?"

"It's Mum." She replied in a shaky voice and broke down in tears.

"Come with me." He lead her into the interview room off the front office and sat her down. "What is it? What's happened?"

"She's really ill, she's in hospital. They were calling social services so I ran away but I didn't know what to do so I came here to find you. Dale, I think she going to die."

"Hey," he knelt down in front of her, "I'm sure it's not that bad. What hospital is she in?"

"St. Hugh's. We've been living in back here for about a year. I wanted to call you but Mum wouldn't let me."

"Yeah, I bet she wouldn't. What about your Dad?"

"He's in prison, he got sent down three years ago, for assault."

"So it's just been you and Mum?"

"Yeah, what's going to happen to me if something happens to Mum? I don't want to going to care."

"It's alright, whatever happens I'll make sure your ok. Let's go to the hospital and find out how she is."

"Thanks Dale." Sophie said standing up and hugging Smithy.

Smithy led Sophie back out of the interview room and out the main entrance. He took his phone out of his pocket. "Gina, it's Smithy. Look, I need to disappear for an hour, it's important. It's personal, I'll explain later. Thanks." He hung up, put his mobile back in his pocket and took his car keys back out. "This way." He said with his hand on Sophie's shoulder, guiding her towards his car.

"So, how've you been?" Smithy asked not taking his eyes of the road.

"Ok." She replied, not really sure how to describe her life since they had last seen each other.

"What school are you at?"

"Canley Comp."

"Do you like it?"

"It's ok, I'm on the gymnastics team which is cool. The lessons are alright. I came top in a science test last week."

"Well done, always thought you were the brainy one."

"How are you?"

"Oh, you know, working too hard."

"Have you got a girlfriend?" She asked with a cheeky smile on her face.

"No." He replied grinning at her.

"Why not?"

"It's complicated."

"Isn't that just another way of saying 'it's none of your business'?"

"Yes."

"I've really missed you." She said after a few minutes of silence.

"Me too. I'm sorry I couldn't see you."

"It wasn't your fault. It was Mums."

Smithy grabbed a jacket out of the back of his car and they went into the hospital.

"Where is she?"

"The Emergency Department." They headed in that direction.

"What name is she using at the moment?"

"Her maiden name."

"Hi, can I see Lynda James, please?" Smithy said to the receptionist.

"Take a seat, I'll get the doctor to come and see you."

"Thanks." They sat down and after ten minutes a doctor came to meet them.

"If you'd like to follow me please." The doctor lead them into a private waiting room. "Can I ask who you are, please?"

"Sorry, I'm Dale Smith, I'm ... I'm her son."

"I'm afraid I have bad news Mr Smith. Your mother passed away about an hour ago."

Smithy fell into stunned silence.

"Mum's dead?" Sophie whispered. Smithy put his arm out and drew Sophie towards him.

"What, er, what happened? I mean what was wrong with her?"

"Your mother had cancer of the liver." The doctor replied gently.

"I had no idea." He looked down at Sophie who shook her head.

"She's been ill for a while but she wouldn't say anything to me about it. I didn't know she had cancer."

"According to her notes she was diagnosed about five months ago but didn't attend the follow up appointment."

"And if she had, would she have been ok?" Smithy asked, not sure if he wanted to know.

"It would probably have prolonged her life but only by a few months. It was a very aggressive form of cancer. I'm sorry this must be a huge shock for you two. Would you like to see your mother?"

"Please." Smithy replied nodding.

"If you wait here I'll get a nurse to show you through. Is there anyone we can call for you?"

"No, no there isn't." The doctor left the room.

"Soph, I'm so sorry." Smithy said, it not really sinking in. His mind was racing, trying to work out what he needed to do.

Sophie opened her mouth but couldn't make any words come out. "What am I going to do?"

--

"Sophie?" Smithy said kneeling down in front of her after they had seen their mothers body. "I'm going to take you back to the station with me, a social worker's going to meet us there and talk to you."

"No, I don't want to go into care, please Dale, don't make me." She replied panicking.

"How about if you came to live with me?"

"Can I?"

"I'll have to talk to the social worker about it but I'm fairly sure that they'd be happy with it. What do you think?"

"I want to live with you."

"Come on, we'll go back to the station." Sophie stood up and Smithy put his arm around her shoulders.

They drove back to the station in silence. After pulling up in the car park, they got out and Smithy showed his sister up to the sergeants office. "Just sit in here for a while. I just need to explain what's happened to my boss, I won't be a minute."

He went down the corridor to the Inspectors office. "Marm, can I have a word?"

"Yeah, sure. Sorted out your problem?" Gina looked up. "Smithy," she said standing up. "What's wrong?"

"Er, I don't really know where to start. My sister Sophie turned up at the station this earlier-"

"I didn't know you had a sister."

"Well, she's my half sister really. I haven't seen her in years, me and my Mum fell out five years ago. She went back to Sophie's Dad, Chris, after he put her in hospital. I'd called the police in and Chris went mental when he found out. Told my Mum that it was him or me. She choose him and the three of them just disappeared. But Sophie turned up today and told me that Mum was in St. Hugh's. By the time we got to the hospital she, she was dead."

"Smithy, I'm so sorry."

"Apparently she'd been diagnosed with cancer but hadn't got any treatment for it. Sophie had no idea. Sophie's Dad's in prison, so I'm all she's got left."

He stopped for a second. "I know I hadn't seen her in years but she was my Mum and now she's gone. And I've got to look after Sophie and organise the funeral and I don't even know where to start."

"First you need to sort your sister out, where is she?"

"In the sergeants office. I've got a social worker coming. Soph doesn't want to go into care, I told her that she could live with me. I don't even know whether this social worker will say yes and even if she does what do I know about looking after a kid?"

"I'm sure social service will be fine with it. You're her brother, her mum's dead, her dad's in prison, they won't want to put her into care. And you'll do a great job looking after, you're her brother."

There was a knock at the door and Tony came in. "Sorry Sarge, there's a social worker downstairs for you."

Smithy took a deep breath and turned around. "Thanks Tony, can you show her up to the Sergeants office. I'll be in there in a second." Tony went back out and down the corridor.

"Do you want me to come in with you?"

"No, I'll be ok. Thanks Gina."

"I want you to take as much time off as you need, is that clear Sergeant?"

"Yes Marm." Smithy replied with a watery smile.

He left the office and joined his sister. "Social workers here. Someone's bringing her up."

"I can't believe she didn't tell me that she had cancer."

"Maybe she couldn't face it. Some people find it easier to pretend that it's not happening."

There was a knock at the door. "Come in." Tony opened the door and stood back to let the woman stood behind him past.

"Hi, I'm Dale Smith." He said holding his hand out to the social worker.

"Mary Reynolds." She replied taking his hand and shaking it. "You must be Sophie Grant." She said with a warm smile at Sophie. "I'm very sorry for your loss."

"I'm here to discuss what's going to happen next, Sophie. I believe that your father, Christopher Grant is in prison."

"Yeah, he's got another five years to do."

"I want Sophie to live with me." Smithy said.

"Living with family would be the ideal situation. How do you feel about living with your brother?"

"I want to live with him. Please, I don't want to go into care, I want to live with Dale.

"Well, I'm happy to allow you into your brothers temporary care. In a week I'll come and see you again, check how it's going and then we'll look at your permanent care."

"Is there anything at all we can help you with." She continued turning to Smithy.

"No thank you."

"Ok, if I can just get your address then I'll leave you two alone."

Smithy scribbled his address on a piece of paper on the desk and handed it over to her.

"Thank you." She said standing up. "Here's my card, call me if you need any help, otherwise I'll see you two in a week."

"Thank you. I'll get someone to show you out." Smithy lent through the door. "Millie, can you show Ms Reynolds out please."

"Yes, of course Sarge. If you'd like to follow me." Millie said quietly.

Smithy went back into the office and shut the door. "I'm going to take you back to mine, do you want to stop at yours first, pick up some things, clothes and stuff."

Sophie nodded.

"Come on then." Smithy led her down the corridor pausing outside Gina's door to tell her that he was going.

"Call me if you need anything Smithy." She called.

They carried on down the corridor. "They really respect you, don't they?" Sophie said quietly after several people said 'Sarge' as they passed.

"Yeah, I suppose they do."

"It must be nice, being respected."

"Kind of, but it's a lot of responsibility as well. That can be hard sometimes." He put his hand around his sisters shoulders and carried on down to Smithy's car.

Smithy got in and turned the engine on. "I don't even know where you live." He muttered.

"17 Westfield Road, it's on the other side of Canley, by the-"

"Swimming pool, I know, I'm a copper, we're like taxi drivers, know the A to Z back to front. You know you've got a crack house in your road?" He said pulling out of the car park. "Probably shouldn't have told you that, forget I said it."

"Is it number 22? There are always dodgy people going in and out of that house in the middle of the night."

"No, it's not but maybe I should investigate that house sometime." He replied trying to keep the conversation going so neither of them had to think about what had just happened.

They travelled on in silence until Smithy stopped outside Sophie's house. They got out of the car and Smithy followed Sophie up the path. She pulled a door key out of her back pocket and let them both in.

"I can't believe Mum's gone." She muttered as Smithy shut the door behind them.

"I know, I always thought that we'd sort things out, thought we had plenty of time. I shouldn't have given her such a hard time, shouldn't have called the police on your Dad."

"Yes, you should have Dale. You were just trying to protect her. She should have left him when she had the chance. I never want to see my Dad again. I wish I wasn't his daughter. I wish your Dad was my Dad as well."

"No you don't, my Dad's no angel. He abandoned me and mum when I was a kid."

"But at least he's not in prison for beating the Hell out of some guy who made the mistake of bumping into him in a pub." Sophie said as she picked up a bag and started cramming clothes into it.

"He could for all I know about him. All I know is that his name is Eddie Smith. I've got about two memories of him. One of him rolling in drunk in the middle of the night and one of him going out for a pint of milk, he must have gone pretty far for that pint because twenty six years later I'm still waiting for him to come home."

"Mum's got, had, I mean, a terrible taste in men."

"Yeah, she sure did." Smithy looked around the room. "You've still got Dale." He said picking up a battered teddy bear from Sophie's bed.

"Of course I have," Sophie said smiling at her big brother, "I can't sleep without him, he reminds me of you." She took the bear off of Smithy, placed it on top of her clothes and zipped the bag up.

"Are you ready to go?" Smithy asked.

"I think so." Sophie said bravely, she was desperately trying to pretend that her mother hadn't just died.

"Let's go then."

They got back into the car and drove to Smithy flat.

"This is where you live?" Sophie asked stunned looking around at the upmarket area.

"Yeah." He replied smiling at Sophie's shock.

"Being a copper pays then!"

"No, being a sergeant pays." He led her into the building and up to his top floor flat. "I'll show you around." He dropped his phone, wallet and keys on the table beside the door.

"This is my bedroom." He said opening the door on his right. "I, er, got up late this morning, didn't have time to make the bed."

He opened the door to his left. "Kitchen." On down the Hall. "This'll be your bedroom." He said as he opened a door further down the hall.

"I never got round to decorating it when I moved in, we can paint it however you want and get you some proper furniture and whatever you need. You can leave your bag in here." He led her back out. "That's the bathroom and this is the living room." He said passing the door at the end of the corridor and opening the final door which led into a big, bright space with patio doors at the end.

" This is my favourite part." He said pulling back the patio doors and leading her out onto the roof terrace. "You can see most of Canley from here."

"Wow, I bet that looks amazing at night, when all the lights are turned on and everything."

"It does. And you feel completely out of it all up here, like nothing can touch you."

"Your flats really amazing, Dale." Sophie said.

"You still want to live with me then?"

"Yeah." She said moving closer to her brother.

"Are you hungry?"

"No." She replied shaking her head.

"You need to eat something, even if it's just something small."

"I'm not hungry, I feel sick."

"That's not surprising, you've had a huge shock, today. What about a drink? Hot chocolate or something, at least that'll give you some energy."

"Ok." She said more to make him happy than anything else.

"Come inside, you're shivering." They went back inside and Smithy shut the doors.

"Sit down, I'll go an make you a drink." He bustled off to the kitchen and came back a few minutes later.

"Here." He said placing the mug on a coaster. He looked up at Sophie when he heard a sniff and saw tears running down her cheeks. He grabbed a box of tissues from a cupboard where he had left them after he'd had a cold.

He took one out and handed it to Sophie. "I know it doesn't feel like it now but it will get better, I promise."

"Does it?" She asked rubbing at her eyes with the tissue.

"Yeah."

"It feels like my whole world has just been destroyed."

"I know, but eventually you'll find that it hasn't, it's just changed a bit. Life has to go on."

"I've really missed you, Dale. I don't know what I'd done today without you."

"You're not without me. And I've thought about you every day since I last saw you, every single day. I haven't stopped missing you for a second." He stood up and picked up a photo frame from the side. It showed him and Sophie when she was about seven.

"Where ever I've been, whatever I've done, I haven't stopped thinking about you. Wondering where you were, what you were doing, whether you were happy. And I'll never stop caring about you because I'm your brother. I promise that everything is going to be ok."

**This is a bit different from my normal fics so please R&R xx**


	2. Getting Back To Normality

**Disclaimer - I don't own the Bill.**

No more time

Chapter 2 – Getting back to normality

Eventually Sophie went to Smithy's spare room, she shut the door behind her and sat down on the bed while looking around the room. She still couldn't believe that her mother, the person who had looked after when she was sick, picked her back up when she fell down, comforted her when she was scared or sad was gone.

She had always dreaded what would happen if something happened to her Mum. And part of her had known, when she'd started getting ill, that it was serious. She had ignored the symptoms, the nausea, tiredness, loss of appetite. Her Mum had been drinking a lot, she'd just put it down to hang over's, she'd got her aspirin and water and then left her alone. Anything to pretend that nothing was wrong.

If only her Mum had told her, she'd have made sure that her Mum had got treatment, she could have called her brother, maybe he'd have been able to do something. But it was too late her Mum was gone and there was nothing that she could do to change that.

She picked her bag up from where she had left it on the floor and pulled out her teddy bear. She held it tightly to her chest as tears slipped down from under her closed eye lids.

She sat like that all night unable to sleep unaware than in the next room Smithy was doing just the same.

He had been concentrating so much on ensuring that Sophie was ok that he'd hardly had time to think about what had happened. It still hadn't sunk in that his mother was dead. She hadn't always been an amazing Mum, but she was all that he had. She's been there for him after his Dad had left. She'd made some bad choices but she was still his Mum.

He'd always thought that eventually something would turn up and they'd sort things out. He thought they had so much time but it was too late, his Mum had died thinking that her son didn't care. He'd never be able to tell her that he loved her, he could never take back the things he'd said, shouted, screamed at her. He'd been so angry with her but only because he was worried about her, he just wanted to protect her and it scared him that he couldn't.

Then she'd taken Sophie and disappeared, he'd tried to find them, contacted Sophie's school but they wouldn't tell him where they'd sent her records. He could have tried harder to find them, should have, he's is a police officer, if anybody can find someone then he should be able to. He felt an overwhelming feeling of guilt.

After a sleepless night all round Smithy got up and dressed. When Sophie came out of her room she found him sat miserably over a cup of coffee.

"Hi." She said quietly.

He turned around to face her. She was pale, her eyes were red, puffy and sore. "Did you get any sleep?"

"Some." She lied.

"What do you want for breakfast?"

Sophie just shook her head.

"You have to have something Soph, you didn't eat anything last night, you'll make yourself ill. I'll make you some toast, just try, please?"

"Ok." She nodded.

He came back a few minutes later with a piece of buttered toast on a plate and gave it to her. She took a small bite from the edge.

"Is there anyone that we need to contact, friends of Mum's, to tell them what's happened?" Smithy said, gently.

"She didn't really have any friends, not that I know of anyway." Sophie replied putting the toast back on the plate.

"Was she working?"

"Yeah, she was a working as a cleaner for _EazyClean._"

"We'll have to let them know. And we need to arrange the funeral, Mum and I never talked about it, do you know what she have wanted?"

"She said once that she didn't want to be buried, that she wanted to be cremated."

"Alright, I'm going to ring a funeral director later." Smithy's mobile rang and he stood up to find it.

"Hello?"

"_Smithy, how are you?" _It was Gina.

"I'm not really sure, it hasn't really sunk in yet."

"_How's your sister?"_

He moved into his bedroom and shut the door. "She didn't sleep last night, and she won't eat anything. I don't know what to do."

"_You just need to be there for her, give her time. Have you done anything about the funeral?"_

"I'm going to contact a funeral directors later, Sophie reckons that Mum would have wanted to be cremated. I need to contact her work, let them know that she's died as well. I don't really know where to start."

"_I'll contact her work if you like_."

"Would you? I'm not sure that I could do it."

"_Of course I will, where did she work?"_

"EazyClean."

"_What was her name?"_

"Lynda James."

"_Do you want me to contact a funeral director, get them to come round to your flat?"_

"Yeah, please."

"_Ok, you just concentrate on your sister. I'll ring you once I've done it."_

"Thank you, Gina."

"_No problem, Smithy."_ He hung up and went back into the living room.

"Who was that?" Sophie asked.

"My inspector. She wanted to know how we were. She's going to contact Mum's work and the funeral directors for us."

They sat quietly, Sophie took another bite of the toast. "Is there anything that you want to do today?" He asked.

"No." Sophie lent against him. "I couldn't stop thinking about her last night. I can't believe that she's gone."

"I know. I just kept thinking that I should have sorted things out years ago, now it's too late."

"I'm very sorry for your loss, Mr Smith." The man said as soon as Smithy opened the door. He was dressed in a black suit with a black tie, it was obvious who he was even without the sombre expression. He looked like he'd never smiled in his life.

"Thank you. Come in." Smithy replied standing back to let the man in and showing him into the living room where Sophie was sat huddled on the Sofa.

"My name's John French, I'm from Canley Funerals. I understand the death of your mother has come as a shock."

"Sit down. Yeah, we didn't know that she was so ill."

"Have you had any thoughts about the funeral?"

"Yeah, we want her cremated."

"Ok, we'll move your mother's body from the hospital to our funeral home, if your happy with that, and contact the crematorium for a date for the funeral. I'll leave you with a brochure of coffins, you might also want to think about any songs or hymns that you want played."

"Ok."

"Have you got any other questions at all?"

"No, I don't think so."

"I'll leave the two of you alone. I'll contact you when I've got a date from the crematorium. Here's my card, contact me when you've decided about songs and the coffin, or if you've got any questions, thoughts or concerns."

"Thank you."

_A week after the funeral._

"Soph, I need to talk to you." Smithy said walking into the newly decorated room and sitting down beside her on the bed. "How do you feel about going back to school, I don't want you to miss too much?"

"I thought you'd say that sooner or later."

"So?"

"Yeah, I suppose."

"I know it's going to be weird getting back the normal things without Mum."

"I know but as you said 'life goes on'. I can't sit around here forever, can I?"

"I'll speak to your school, start again on Monday?"

"Ok."

"And if I went back to work on Monday as well, do you think you'd be alright with that."

"Of course, bet the crime levels have shot up over the last few weeks without you."

Smithy smiled. "You're sure that's alright, I can take longer off if you want."

"It's fine, I'll be fine."

"Sure?"

"Sure."

_Monday_

"You alright?" Smithy said watching Sophie pick at her breakfast.

"Fine." Sophie muttered, pulling at her tie to loosen it.

"Are you nervous?"

"Yeah, it's stupid. I'm only going to school, I've done it a thousand times before."

"You'll be fine. If you have any problems just ring me alright, even if you just need to talk. I'll have my phone on me all day, if I don't answer it's because I'm in an interview but I will ring you back straight away, ok. And you've got the number for the station haven't you?"

"Yeah, it's in my phone."

"If you can't get me on my mobile, ring the station and ask for me."

"I'll be fine, don't worry."

"Can't help it, it's a big brother privilege."

"Have you got all your books ready?" Smithy said picking the empty plates from the table.

"Yeah."

"What lessons have you got today?"

"English, maths, drama, science and double French."

"Sounds like a fun day."

"Yeah, think about me while you're out chasing criminals."

"It's not quite as exciting as it sounds. I'll probably spend most of my day catching up on my paperwork."

"Bet it's still more exciting than double French."

"Yeah, it is. Come on, I'll give you a lift to school."

"It's ok, I can catch the bus."

"Nah, I'll give you a lift this morning."

"Thanks." Sophie replied, she picked up her bag and blazer and followed Smithy out of the flat.

"I'll pick you up after school."

"Won't you be working?"

"It'll be fine, I'll just sneak out for half an hour."

"Dale, I don't want you getting in trouble just to give me a lift, I'm thirteen, I'm old enough to catch the bus home from school."

"I won't get in trouble and I know that you're old enough to catch a bus but it's your first day back and I want to be there for you. So I'll see you here a three thirty, ok?"

"Ok."

"Now go on or you'll be late."

"See you later, have a good day."

"You too." She slammed the door shut and waved before turning and walking through the school gates.

Smithy arrived at the station late and had to rush to get changed in time for the briefing, which he got to with seconds to spare.

"Morning, come on sit down." He said picking up a clip board. "Right, PC Stamp and PC Valentine are in the area car, PC Armstrong and PC Gayle are on the High Street, PC Brown and PC Taylor on the Jasmin Allen. PC Green CID want a hand with some CCTV and finally PC Ryder with Sergeant Weston following up on a burglary from last night. Go on then, go and do some work."

Everyone stood up and made their way out, chatting loudly as they went.

"Nice to see you back, Sarge." Tony said as he passed Smithy. "Bet it's nice to get back to normality."

**Please review?x**


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